Conclusions and recommendations

5.1 Action recommendation

The most obvious measures are the ones which have high value as well as high feasibility.

Besides these measures, it is also recommended to participate in existing markets although the potential value is not expected to be very high because this will only be feasible in cases with very low or negative prices. Repowering is also included, but limited to the cases where the O&M of existing plants is high due to the age of the plants. Finally, the potential value of joint optimisation of O&M services is very high offshore, but it is not straight forward to establish the necessary cooperation between competing owners.

Value HIGH

New power tuning apps at plant level

Joint optimisation of O&M services

Retrofit of wind turbine components Power tuning apps and flexible power limitation of individual wind turbines Reducing lost production via diagnostics

Reactive power CAPEX reduction Increased voltage levels in power collection grids

New ancillary services

LOW

Participate in balancing and intraday markets today

Repowering

Improved power quality performance and assessment procedures

Participate in ancillary service markets know today (primary and secondary)

LOW HIGH

Feasibility

MEGAVIND

5.2 Quantification of potential value

The quantification of the potential value of the individual measures is not straight forward because it will require dedicated studies to provide credible estimates.

However, there are some studies with results which are relevant in this context, although most published studies of economic impact provide results regarding the value for the society as a whole rather than the value for the owners of plants. Another challenge in quantification of the value is the different market structures, especially for ancillary services, which makes it difficult to compare results across borders.

The following results are identified as relevant to the present strategy:

.

In the EU TWENTIES project, EDF estimated that with 25 GW wind power in France in 2020, it will be feasible to provide 2% of the reserves in the French system from wind power, and this will reduce the costs of producing electricity in France by 2.3 MEuro/y [18].

.

In the EU TWENTIES project, IWES Fraunhofer has estimated that if a proposed available active power proof is applied then wind power participation in the secondary control reserve market can provide cost reductions for secondary reserves of up to 24

% [13].

.

In the EU TWENTIES project, DTU has estimated that a power tuning app for High Wind Extended Production will increase the energy production of offshore wind power plants with more than 1% [7].

.

In the EU REserviceS project, the benefits of providing reserves from renewables have been studied in three cases representing different types of systems: The island system of Ireland [19], the “end-of-line” peninsula Iberia [20], and a large North European case including Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland [21]. The results clearly show that the benefits of services from renewables increase significantly with increased penetration. As an example, in the 42% renewable penetration case for Iberia, the additional annualised investment costs of making services available from renewables were estimated to approximately 240 MEuro/y and the corresponding benefits were estimated to approximately 660 MEuro/y. The results also indicate that the benefits are highest in island systems (Ireland) and lowest in larger strongly interconnected systems (The North European case)³.

3 One interpretation of the REserviceS case study results is that the benefits get significant in high penetration cases with significant wind curtailment, which can be mitigated by the use of wind power to provide reserves.

5.3 Key messages to policy makers

Below follows a list of key messages to policy makers. The understanding of policy maker in this context includes politicians, energy system development planners, regulators and transmission system operators.

.

There is a need to continue the development towards more international and larger energy markets.

.

Well functioning energy markets will also require further development of the transmission grids.

.

There is a need for economic incentives to promote the integration of energy systems, hereunder to transfer demand from other energy systems to electricity. An example of this is to replace fossil fuels by electricity in the transportation sector.

.

There is a need to shape the markets so that it becomes more attractive for wind power to participate to all power system services.

.

There is a need to continue public funding of new CAPEX projects as is done by PSO resources in Denmark today.

.

Policy makers should consider to change tax on electricity to increase demand flexibility.

.

Policy makers should consider larger tenders to accelerate value chain maturation.

.

Policy makers should reduce the regulatory risks which are presently disproportionately high compared to the market risks.

5.4 Key messages to industry

The following key messages address to industry companies including owners, wind turbine manufacturers and sub-suppliers

.

It is important to have clear strategies and roadmaps on how to reduce the cost of electricity produced by wind power plants.

.

There is a potentially very high value in utilising portfolio and cluster synergies, especially if the industry will cooperate.

.

The industry should aim to collaborate across the value chain.

.

The industry should communicate to potential investors that wind power is a sound long term investment in order to mitigate capital sourcing challenges.

MEGAVIND

5.5 Key messages to research

There is a need for R&D to support the development of the measures identified in this strategy:

.

Development of data mining techniques to handle the “big data” for the purpose of diagnostics and condition monitoring.

.

Studies of the technical and economic feasibility of

a. Wind power joining markets (frequency control, balancing, ramping) b. Use of probabilistic forecasts

c. New market designs

.

Development of new tools for economic assessment with special focus on higher resolution market models enabling studies of real-time balancing.

.

Technical studies of ancillary services from wind power plants

a. Uncertainties and values of ancillary services depending on service lifetime

b. New ancillary services from wind power plants allowing higher instantaneous penetration of wind power plants.

c. Dynamic modelling of ancillary services from wind power plants

.

Cost reductions of O&M

a. Use of condition monitoring (diagnostics) b. Development of optimisation tool(s)

.

Technical and economic feasibility studies of new electrical concepts:

a. DC wind turbines and collection grids b. Low Frequency AC transmission

.

Power quality and harmonics

a. Development of new test and assessment procedures to reduce costs for ensuring the necessary power quality

b. Development of converter technologies and active control to mitigate the harmonic emission

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In document Increasing the Owners’ Value of Wind Power Plants in Energy Systems with Large Shares of Wind Energy (Sider 21-26)